Game apparatus



Feb. 15, '1944. c. soLlNsKl GAME APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14. 1942 INVENTOR. 3x2 /ww \59 BY A//s Irren Patented Feb. 15, 1944 2,342,018 GAME APPARATUS Charles A. Solinski, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Exhibit Supply Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application December 14, 1942, Serial No. 469,003

3 Claims. v(Cl. v2194-76) This invention relates to amusement apparatus and more particularly to coin control mechanism therefor having as its principal object the provision of such device which will be simple in construction, economical in manufacture and highly eiiicient in use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a coin operated device for setting into operation a device arbitrarily indicating a certain objective to the amusement of the user.

Still another object of this invention is to'provide an indicia changer to simulate a spinning disc for arbitrarily indicating one indicia means.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a hand controlled coin coupler for initially setting the amusement apparatus for operation.

Other objects will lappear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed. The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing showing'the preferred form of construction, and in which:

Fig. l is a perspective View of a cabinet for an amusement yapparatus embodying my invention; lFig. 2 is a Vertical sectional detail view of the saineV as seen along line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the working mechanism of my invention arranged in an electrical circuit forming a part thereof;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentaryr side elevational view of the hand operated coin'control; -and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the same as seen from below in Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a cabinet I having a horizontal shelf II which supports a hand operated lever I2 for manual operation to initially operate a commutator switch I3 to successively illuminate a plurality of lamps I4 arranged behind a translucent panel I5.

The amusement apparatus illustrated in the drawing is intended to have certain indicia such as traits of character imprinted upon thepanel I5 so that when the lamp I4 behind a particular indicia is illuminated the subject matter of the indicia opposite the lamp will be legible. Each of the lamps I4 is connected by a separate conductor IB to a particular set of contact points I1 on the Acommutator I3. The contact points I1 are preferably, though not necessarily connected in circuits so as to cause a successive illumination of the lamps I4 as shown in Fig. 5. The commutator has the usual rotor member I8 which is Vdisposed on a centralshaft I9 and adapted to sweepingly engage the contact points I1 in succession. The shaft I9 is driven by an electric motor 20 through a train of gears 2I having a brake 22 in engagement therewith to frictionally engage the gear train and hold the latter in a fixed position after the momentum of the motor armature has been spent.

A time delay switch means 23 is arranged in the cabinet I0 and comprises a dash pot structure 24 like unto that shown in Patent No. 2,101,194, issued to Bruno Radtke on December 7, 1937.

The piston rod 25 of the dash pot 24 is normally extended by a spring 26 having its opposite end anchored in the cabinet. This rod 25 carries a projecting pin 21 which normally engages one contact element 28 of a switch 29 to dispose the latter in open circuit condition. Through this switch 29 the source of electric energy 30 is connected to the shaft I9 to supply current to the rotor member I8 whereby to complete circuit to the electric lamps I4 by way of conductor cable I6, each lamp being connected back to the ground connection of the source of electric energy 30.

A motor control switch generally indicated as 3| is also connected to the source of electric energy 30 to complete circuit to the coil 32 of the motor 20. 'I'his switch 3I is normally disposed in opened circuit condition and has one contact element 33 thereof disposed in the path of movement of the projecting pin 21 for dell-ection into closed circuit condition with its companion contact element 34.

The piston rod 25 of the dash pot 24 is moved inwardly by manual operation of the hand operated lever I2 when a coin of proper denomination is deposited through a gravity chute 35 arranged on the horizontal shelf II. A coin so deposited is utilized to form a coupling between the handle I2 and an oscillatory plate 36. To accomplish this result a guide chute 31 is suspended from the underside of the shelf Il in alignment with the gravity chute 35. The plate 36 is pivotally mounted as at 38 on the guide chute 31 in spaced relation with respect thereto, which spacing is affected by the position of the pivot support 38 and a pair of pins 39 extending laterally from the guide chute 31, the plate 36 being normally urged into normal spaced relation with respect to the guide chute 31 by the force of gravity. The plate 36 has a slot or aperture 36 formed therein, in alignment with a push rod 40, such push rod being normally effective to move the plate 36 when the coin has been deposited.

The push rod 4G is arranged for sliding horizontal movement in a sleeve II formed on the guide chute 31 and has its free end 42 notched and supported by a cross bar 43 formed on the under side of the hand operated lever I2 which in turn is pivotally mounted as at M on a mounting plate d arranged on the shelf II. The push rod 4l] is normally urged in a direction away from and downwardly with respect to the axis of the sleeve lI by a spring til', the coin abutting nose 45 of the push rod lili, however, being at all times in alignment with the sleeve 4I while the free end il?. of the, push rod abuts a stop 41 on a depending plate dit. The hand operated lever I2 is normally urged into withdrawn position by a spring 49 where the cross bar i3 can engage the notched free end 2 of the push rod.

As heretofore explained the push rod di) `will pass through the guide chute .-'i'i and the slot 36 in the plate 3G. However, when a coin is deposited in the gravity chute 35 it drops down into the guide chute 31 and is supported by the pins 3S) to block passage of the push rod lil through the plate 36. Now, when a person grasps the hand operated lever i2 and pivots the latter against the action of the spring iid, the cross bar 43 engages the notch at the end l2 of the push rod and shifts the latterl (to the right Fig.' Zl) thus pivoting the plate 35 away from the guide chute 31.

A trip lever 50 is pivotally mounted as at 5! on a side wall 52 of the guide chute 31 and has a trigger nger 53 with a shoulder portion normally disposed on a ledge Eil on the plate 36 by the action of a spring 55 connected to the lever dii and anchored to the side wall 52. The opposite end of the trip lever 5t has an inwardly projecting trip ledge 55 disposed in engagement with a depending finger 51 on the push rod fill. The arrangement is such that when plate 35 is swung away from the guide chute 31 as aforesaid (see Fig. 4), the ledge 54 thereof will be moved from under the shoulder on the trigger inger 53 so that the latter may drop onto the ledge 54 by action of spring 55. 50 then rocks (clockwise Fig. l) to elevate its opposite end and trip ledge 58 to push upwardly the depending nger 51 to tilt the bar lill upwardly and disengage the bar til from the crossbar 43 to permit the rod to be withdrawn by the spring dil to release the coin deposited which is free to drop into a hopper 53 for guidance into a cash drawer 59. Upon the return movement of the push rod All in the manner stated the nnger 51 bears against the trip ledge 55 rocking the lever Sil in an anti-clockwise direction to disengage the shoulder 55' near the end of the iinger 53, from the plate 35 permitting the plate 36 to return to its normal position shown in full lines (Fig. 4).

The swinging movement of the plate 35 is transmitted to the projecting pin 2? on the time delay switch 23 through a lateral projecting pin 6I] on the plate 35. By the movement of the plate 36 the piston rod 25 is moved inwardly with respect to the dash pot 25 and the projecting pin 21 moved away from the contact element 23 on the switch 29 to permit the latter to assume closed circuit condition to energize the commutator circuit. At the same time the projecting pin 21 engages the contact element 33 of the motor The trip lever vtion by the spring 26, the projecting pin 21 first releasing the motor contact switch 3I to deenergize the motor 2D thus leaving but one of the lamps I4 illuminated to indicate or render legible one Vparticular indicia member. The lamp I4 so illuminated remaining lit for a predetermined lapsevof time until the projecting pin 21 engages the contact element 28 to break circuit through the switch 29. Having thus completed a cycle operation the apparatus is read?)f forr'another `such operation upon the deposit of another coin.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification'without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come with the'scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: I

1. In a device of the class described including a guide chute having an open side wall, an actuating plate pivotally mounted on said guide chute and normally closing said open side wall, means for maintaining said plate inspaced relation with respect to said guide chute and to detain a coin therebetween, aligned apertures formed in said guide chute and said plate in the region of detention of a coin therebetween, a reciprocable element arranged to move through said aligned apertures and transversely of said guide chute and said plate, manually operable means operatively engaging said reciprocable element -to move the latter in a direction through said aligned apertures whereby to vabut a detained coin Vand pivot said plate, and a trip lever pivotally mounted on saidguide chute for disengaging the reciprocable element from said manually operable means when Ysaid plate is pivoted as-aforesaid, and vmeans for pivoting said trip lever upon said pivotal movement of said plate.

2. Ina devicel of the class described including a guide chute having an open side wall, an actuating plate pivotally mounted on said guide chute and normally closingsaid open side wall, means `for maintainingr said plate in spaced relation with respect to said'guide chute and to `'detain a coin therebetween, aligned apertures plate is pivoted as aforesaid, said trip means comprising a lever pivotally mounted on said -guide chute, a stepped trigger finger on one end of said lever and spring means normally urging said ringer into engagement with said plate, and a trip ledge on the opposite end of said lever and engaging said reciprocable element whereby when said plate is pivoted said lever will pivot to urge said trip ledge toward said reciprocable element for theI purpose aforesaid.

3. In a device of the class described including a guide chute having an open side wall, an actuating plate pivotally mounted on said guide chute and normally closing said open side wall, means for maintaining said plate in spaced relation with respect to said guide chute and to detain a coin therebetween, aligned apertures formed in said guide chute and said plate within the area of the coin when such coin is detained in the guide chute, a reciprocable element arranged to move through said aligned apertures and transversely of said guide chute and said plate when there is no coin in the chute, manually operable means operatively engaging said reciprocable element to move the latter in a direction through said aligned apertures whereby to abut a detained coin and pivot said plate, trip means for releasing said reciprocable element from said manually operable means when said plate is pivoted as aforesaid, and means to retract said reciprocable element when the same is released from the manually operable means.

CHARLES A. SOLINSKI. 

